


Yellow

by rainandasphalt



Category: Love Live! School Idol Festival (Video Game), Love Live! School Idol Project
Genre: F/F, Fluff and Angst, Hanahaki Disease, Unhappy Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-20
Updated: 2017-08-20
Packaged: 2018-12-17 21:24:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 1,964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11859948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rainandasphalt/pseuds/rainandasphalt
Summary: A very fragile, very pretty girl finds herself in Maki’s care. Her loneliness seems to be cured. However, disease attracts more disease.





	1. Voice

It had been years since Maki had felt like singing. She had given up on that old, silly dream. But looking at this softly sleeping girl made her want to use her voice for something, anything. 

 

Maki stayed silent, of course. It's unprofessional for the head doctor to sing at work. She shouldn't even be slacking off like this, watching patients. That didn't stop her from wishing. 

 

The girl in front of her looked about 20, the same age as Maki. Somehow, she felt like “girl” fit more than “woman”. She had long, light grey-brown hair matched her teal hospital gown well. Her eyes were closed, and she was smiling peacefully. All in all, this was a very pretty girl. 

 

Kotori Minami. That was the name on the side of the bed. _ It’s fitting _ , Maki thought. The girl’s nose was a bit pointy, and it did look like a little bird beak. The little notecard next to her name read: “Cause of hospitalization: General heart failure, asthma, physical trauma due to accident.”

 

There was a cast on her left arm. There was only two signatures, one was in blue pen too small to read and the other said “HONOKA” in giant, wobbly, orange letters.

 

Maki sat there, longingly. She hummed a tune. That was good enough. Maki hoped it wouldn't wake up the patient, but of course, her luck was always awful. 

 

The girl's eyes fluttered open. They were a soft orange, like a sunset. She looked over at Maki with those beautiful eyes. “Hello,” she croaked.

 

“Oh, um, hello! I'm Dr. Nishikino, I was just… checking your IV to make sure everything was working well!” Maki lied nervously. Waking up to a stranger saying they were watching you in your sleep because you’re pretty seemed to be a lot more concerning than a doctor checking your IV.

 

“I'm Kotori,” the girl said, before closing her eyes and sighing deeply. Her breathing slowed and she fell asleep again. 

 

Maki smiled and thought to herself,  _ I think I might be in love.  _


	2. Infection

A young blue-haired woman was in Kotori’s room when Maki walked in. She was holding a large peony. She could hear the woman saying something. “Honoka is distraught, you know… you're her best friend. She blames herself for it.”

“Tell her it’s okay. That truck would’ve hit us even if she hadn’t been drunk,” Kotori replied.

Maki felt like she was intruding on something, so she backed away, but not before Kotori spotted her.

“Hello, Dr. Nishikino! This is my girlfriend, Umi Sonoda!” Kotori said excitedly. Despite the morbid topic, she looked so happy, both of them looked so happy together. They were holding hands.

Maki felt a sharp pain in her heart, like a needle or thorn. Tears began to well up in her eyes, and her stomach felt queasy. “Excuse me,” she said, and darted out of the room.

~~~~~~~

Maki looked down at the yellow petals on the bathroom floor. She hadn't made it into a stall on time. It was okay, she was alone, but she still had to clean up this mess. Maki grabbed a broom to the right of the door and began to sweep the petals away. She had no dustpan, so she settled for hiding them in a corner. Hopefully it wouldn't come back to haunt her.

~~~~~~~

Hanahaki-Byou. That's what it was called, according to the webpage Maki had pulled up. A disease in which the afflicted coughs up flower petals due to unrequited love. The type of flower coughed up depends on what the afflicted feels.

Leaning back in her chair, Maki sighed and closed her eyes. Going home early was a good idea. The chipper nurse Rin Hoshizora was tending to Kotori. They talked a lot on break, and Maki considered Rin her friend. She had been a florist before going to medical school.

_I need help. I need someone who can tell me what's going on. I don't know my own emotions._

A person that knew about this sort of thing… Maybe Rin would know the flowers and what they meant. But the more important thing was what to do. Maki remembered meeting someone who was a fortune teller. Perhaps she would know? Her name was…. Hmm… Maki concentrated and tried to think. Suddenly, it popped into her head. _Nozomi Toujou!_ She had her business card around here, somewhere. After rummaging around for a few minutes, Maki finally found it

With a quick, “Aha!“ Maki popped out of her chair and raced downstairs to the parking lot.


	3. Jealousy

“Hey, rich girl! Watcha doin’ in the slums?” A voice jeered at Maki, breaking her concentration. “You braggin’ about yo money?” The voice belonged to a short woman who looked a little older than Maki, maybe 25 or so. Her dark twintails were all ratty and their was oil smudged on her face. The sign above her shop read “Yazawa’s Auto Parts”.

 

Maki knew it best to not respond, but she let anger get the better of her. “ _ For your information _ , I am seeking help from a business owner who just  _ happens _ to live in the more poor part of town. I am not here to brag, simply to pay for a service and leave,” she said indignantly.

 

The woman snickered. “Help? Is li’l miss bourgeoisie lacking money or somethin’? Yo daddy ain't wanna pay yo bills? With boots like those, I'm sure-”

 

“Shaddup, Nicocchi,” another voice chimed in. it was much softer, but firm enough that the twintailed woman jumped, startled. She then scowled and started grumbling to herself, but left Maki alone.

 

“Uh… who are you?” Maki asked, turning around. Behind her was a tall girl with silky purple hair. She looked like the motherly type, all friendly and warm. The kind of mom who would bake fresh cookies for you and all your friends. She was standing in front of a booth labelled “Psychic”. Was this Nozomi? “Hey, are you-” Maki began.

 

“Nozomi Toujou? Yes, that’s me, and the girl who was shouting at you is Nico Yazawa. She’s just salty because she had to give up her dreams of becoming a popstar,” the purple haired girl explained. “You must be Maki Nishikino.”

 

Maki nodded nervously. “Yeah, I need help with-”

 

“It’s Hanahaki-Byou, isn’t it? I thought you researched it already,” Nozomi interrupted.

 

Despite her motherly appearance, this lady was starting to freak Maki out.  _ She can’t really be psychic, no way. _ But part of Maki believed it. That’s why she was here, after all.

 

“Well, I actually…” Maki said, but stopped. “Aren’t you gonna interrupt me again?” she asked.

 

The psychic shook her head. “No, no, please continue.”

 

“So I have Hanahaki-Byou, right? Don’t the flowers mean something? Mine are yellow, I wanted to know what that meant.”

 

Nozomi stayed silent for a moment, then started clapping. “Well done, well done! I did not see that coming.” She turns around and starts shouting: “HEY PANACCHI! We’ve got an interesting one!” Nozomi then grabbed Maki’s wrist tightly and pulled her into the booth. 


	4. Treatment

Suddenly, Maki was standing face to face with a young woman with glasses and brown hair about her own length. “Eek!” the woman squeaked. Maki almost started laughing, but restrained herself. This girl probably had an anxiety problem, it would be rude to laugh. “H-hello! I’m Hanayo Koizumi, I’ll be your r-reader for today, um…” She pulled out a card and read slowly, “I will be y-your psychic read for today, I… I am in training so please bear w-with me.” Hanayo looked at Nozomi. “Was that alright?” she whispered.

 

Nozomi smiled. “You’re doing so well, Panacchi! Try to enunciate more.”

 

“You, uh, okay… you’re having a problem with… vomiting? And plants are involved, I think. Uh… the language of flowers?” Hanayo said, but the way she said it was more like a question. Her eyes darted between Nozomi and Maki.

 

Maki said, “Yes, that’s correct. It’s Hanahaki-Byou.”

 

Hanayo’s face fell. “Oh! Oh, you… you already knew. Sorry…”

 

“No need to apologize, Panacchi!” Nozomi said. “More practice equals more skills!”

 

“Okay!” Hanayo said, a little more confident this time. “Ah, I've seen these flowers before but I dunno what they're called or what they mean.”

 

“What they mean isn't important to me… I want to know what to do about the disease,” Maki said, frustrated. 

 

Nozomi sighed. “The meaning of the flowers is more important than you think. If you can figure out your emotions, it's easier to repress them. The only ways to get rid of Hanahaki-Byou are surgery, reciprocation of your love, or repression, in order of easiest to hardest.”

 

Disappointed, Maki walked back to her car and drove home.


	5. Life and Death

“Ah! Maki-chan!” a familiar voice called. It was Rin.

 

“Hello, Nurse Hoshizora. I’m afraid I don’t have time to chat,” Maki replied. “I’m sorry.”

 

Rin looked surprised. “Really!? But it’s an emergency! Eli and I found these yellow carnations in the bathroom-”

 

“You  _ what? _ ” Maki snapped. She immediately covered her mouth, she hadn’t meant to sound so harsh. “Ah, sorry, I didn’t get much sleep last night. See you later, Hoshizora.”

 

“Oh…” Rin’s voice faltered.

 

Maki walked off without looking back. Maybe it was better that she didn’t, or maybe it’d been better if she did. If she had turned around and saw the tears on Rin’s cheeks, maybe this story could have a happy ending. But she didn’t, and that made all the difference.

 

~~~~~~~

 

“Good morning, Dr. Nishikino,” a weak voice said. It was Kotori. 

 

“Kotori! You should be in bed,” Maki fretted. She was concerned about her patient’s health. 

 

Kotori smiled. “I'll be fine, Dr. Nishikino,” she said, visibly shaking. Clearly she was not fine.

 

Just then, the elevator made a little  _ ding! _ and Umi got out. “Umi!!” Kotori cried, running to hug her girlfriend. She didn’t get very far.

 

Kotori collapsed to the ground. Umi and Maki both rushed forward to help, but Umi backed away suddenly. Maki gave her a puzzled expression. “You're a doctor. You should help her,” Umi mumbled. Maki nodded.

 

The thing was, Maki wasn’t sure if there was anything she could do. She knelt next to Kotori and tried to get her into a sitting position. 

 

All of a sudden, Maki felt that same queasiness as yesterday. She began coughing, and those yellow petals fell out of her mouth and onto Kotori’s chest. 

 

“I see…” mumbled Kotori. She grabbed at the petals, but her movements were slow and feeble. “You take care of this for me, you hear? You take care of your heart.” And with that, Kotori Minami was dead. 


	6. Cycle

Kotori’s funeral wasn’t grand, but it wasn’t small. Either. It was held at a simple church with a graveyard in the back.

 

The processional was uneventful. Umi spoke briefly. After her was a woman with bright orange hair that Maki assumed to be Honoka. In the middle of her speech, she broke down crying. Umi had to drag her off the stage and comfort her. Then an old woman with silver hair, silky like Nozomi’s, spoke. She also cried during her speech, but managed to keep speaking. Perhaps it was Kotori’s mother. 

 

And then the processional was over, people were returning to the church. Maki noticed Rin not moving. “Hey Rin, are you okay?” she asked. 

 

“Yeah, fine, I just need a little time,” Rin replied. Maki patted her shoulder and walked inside. 

 

When Maki was out of earshot, Rin began to cough and covered her mouth. When she stopped, there were a bunch of tiny purple flowers in her hand. The same colour as Maki’s eyes.

 

“Lilacs?” she murmured. “First love, huh…” Rin crushed the purple flowers in her hand and let them fall to the ground. She silently walked back toward the church. Nobody needed to know.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to make Rin suffer too. Please tell me if you like the story! I'm always a slut for Hanahaki-Byou.


End file.
